I don't know how you could capture a queen from an ant colony near you, but you can order commercial ant farms from the internet, and those will come with a queen. They aren't too expensive either, if I remember correctly.

I would advise to never remove the queen from an ant colony. The queen is essentially the brain of the colony and it's her job to produce new workers, soldiers etc. Without her, the rest of the ants would have no coordination in their work and would be unable to repopulate after an attack.

I have a queen! She was strolling on my garden path and I commandeered her to put in a plastic tub. Now I am wondering what to do next.

I have filled a moderately small square clear plastic ex-cookie tub a third of the way with moist dirt, put in a shell and a curvy piece of coral, and some shredded cabbage.

Now what! Have I acted correctly? Am I torturing the poor creature? Please lend your advice!

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It's been a day, and I don't want to make too many new posts-- therefore I'm adding on to this one.
Her Majesty has stopped frantically trying to climb the walls of her new domain, and has spent some time on the highest peak of the coral I placed there. Recently I have seen (and heard) Her Highness burrowing... please tell me that's a good sign!

I did some research and I belive she is a Formica Fusca. I'm not certain.
It is possible, actually, that she may be a Camponotus Pennsylvanicus (carpenter ant), on account of her large-ish size.
She is roughly half an inch long, three segments, jointed antennae, and the color of ebony.

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She is a carpenter ant! I found a chunk of partially rotted wood, soaked it in water briefly (because I read that carpenter ants really need moisture), and partially submerged it in the dirt. She began tunnelling in it immediately.
I might add that she was much more efficient tunneling through the wood than her previous attempts in the dirt. Carpenter ants don't eat wood (so I read), but do like to live in it. I feel that I have done right by my queen so far!

Last edited by helpmyqueen on Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:49 am, edited 3 times in total.

I would try honey or jelly if I were you.
By the way, is it futile, do you think, to put half a cherry in my Queen's enclosure? I think I read somewhere that queens do not eat until their babies bring food to them. My poor sovereign... I hope the cherry doesn't mold. Do you think I ought to remove it?

Oh well-- I have, and replaced it with a tiny shell of granulated sugar. Do you think this was the correct course of action? I would hate to unknowingly torture Her Majesty.

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I've seen her eating the sugar daintily out of her limpet shell-- but I scared her away. nurge